


Too late

by Foxy_the_Sly



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2014-03-31
Packaged: 2018-01-17 14:44:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 10,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1391545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxy_the_Sly/pseuds/Foxy_the_Sly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Anna took the decision to save her sister too late</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Anna was frozen in spot – she did not know what to do. Should she go to Kristoff or to Elsa? She needed Kristoff to help her thaw but Elsa was fighting with Hans at the moment.

As if in slow motion, she saw Elsa fall and Hans prepare to swing his sword.

'I must go' she thought, as her legs started to move – slowly – towards her sister. She thought of her sister and all of the sacrifices she had made because of her power. She thought of the good times and the bad, and these thoughts coupled with her desperation, allowed her to go faster.

But it was not enough, and she froze seconds away from protecting her sister.

The sword dove slowly into Elsa's shoulder, but was quickly iced over within the wound. When Hans tried to pull it out, it was so cold it broke.

Elsa could feel the pain, albeit distant, numbed by the cold within her, and she cried out in fear and pain. The storm picked up within the whole country – buildings and carts were moved by the wind and ice, and visibility was impossible throughout the lands.

Only the eye of the storm was safe. And it is in this eye of the storm that Elsa slowly looked up and around her. Hans was frozen from the feet up to the torso by her fear and could not move – this did not stop him from glowering angrily at her, and mouthing words that remained unheard above the sound of the storm. Kristoff and Sven had only just reached Anna and were trying to find a way to warm her up – a thin layer of snow was already gathering above the ice. Anna – her sister – stood there, a frozen statue of desperation and Elsa could no longer look away.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo"

And the snow stopped. The land seemed frozen by time now that the storm had abated. Frozen under a thin layer of ice and snow.

"Anna – what did I do?!"

As she saw Kristoff, Sven and Olaf crowd around Anna and try to provide for her the warmth she needed, Elsa's feelings of guilt and pain grew. She was no longer scared – what she had feared all these years – ever since meeting the trolls as a child – everything, had come to pass.

She had to leave – disappear somewhere she could truly be alone, and put nobody at risk.

And so, she ran.


	2. Chapter 2

Elsa was now far away from her kingdom, in a land which was originally known for its long snow season. She figured that as long as she stayed in areas such as this, and moved with the seasons, no-one would be able to find her.

She remained in Ice castles all over the world, and hardly visited anybody – so much so in fact, that people believed her to be a legend, and only the people from her Kingdom back home knew the full truth.

But her pain and guilt remained. She tried to let go of her negative feelings, to forget about her kingdom and turn her back to her past, but this time there was no running. These feelings were within her and she had bought them upon herself. Abandoning them would be just like forever abandoning Anna.

Anna. Elsa did not know what had happened after she had left – just that a representative from another country had been banned from the country and that Prince Hans had also been – very effectively – shut out by its citizens.

She had not cried - could not cry - a single tear since that day. She had feared this all her life, but now it was true – her sister was lost to her. She could have gone around the world looking for answers, spoken with trolls, witches and all manner of magical creature but she lacked faith. Had she not been told all her life to hold it all within? Had she not heard the trolls say, back when she had first hurt Anna, that if she were to be touched by ice in her heart, they would be able to do nothing.

And so she stayed in her grief. Away from humans. Away from snowmen (they reminded her of Anna). Avoiding the world as she had been taught.


	3. Chapter 3

Those moments had been the worst moments of Kristoffs life. Realizing he loved Anna, the vivacious, tenacious and naïve girl he had only just met only to see her freeze in front of him – because he was too late.

Too late to change his mind, too late to hold her in his arms, too late to say he loved her.

He had not noticed the snowstorm grow stronger and envelop the lands. He had not noticed the scream of horror Elsa had let out. He had only moved to get a blanket and wrap it around Anna not knowing what to do or how to save her from her icy fate. If he warmed her, would she melt like Olaf and become a puddle on the floor? If he hugged her, would he break the ice? Would he break her?

Sven stood tall by his side, being the supportive reindeer he always had been. The ever present friend standing strong and tall by his side. Sven tried to lick Anna – make her react and leave her frozen form. He trotted around her and sniffed before returning – sad to his masters side.

Finally, there was Olaf – looking up at Anna, and trying to make her talk – hoping that she, like him, would be able to talk through the cold.

Kristoff started to see vague shapes in his surroundings through the tears that had started to fall. Hans – the prince whom he had not seen until now was still standing in the position of a lumberjack wielding an axe, the lower half of his body still frozen in the ice. He was in despair, having realized he could not save himself from the fate that surely was to be expected.

Hans could not move – not erase the evidence of his crimes towards the kingdom of Arendelle and as such would be tried, imprisoned at best and exiled at worst. News of his folly would traverse all the lands, and no princess or queen would want to wed him.

As Kristoff saw Hans, a feeling of deep anger rose in him. This was the man who should have saved Anna. A man who should have loved her as she deserved to be loved. Hans was a man who had taken advantage of her pure heart and for that Kristoff hated him.

In the Kingdom of Arendelle, the advisors and citizens were slowly coming outside. The storm had now abated, and silence reigned supreme.

They would soon find the frozen statue of their princess, as well as the witnesses to her downfall and the perpetrator – the man they had grown to trust – Hans.

As they led the criminal to the donjons, and bought Anna and Olaf into the coldest room they could find, Kristoff did not move. As Sven nudged him, and tried to convince him to go, he still could not tear his eyes away from the spot where Anna had been standing, frozen.

And they stood there until well after the night had fallen.


	4. Chapter 4

If Anna was aware, despite her frozen status, of the events going on around her, we may never know. Cold as ice and shivering inwardly, she could have fainted. Her thought processes, her brain and her heart could have halted for good.

But, if she were to remain aware, she would have seen a great many events unfold.

She would have seen pain, as the anguish of being unable to save her own sister rose in her heart. The pain in Elsa's form as her shoulder caught the blade, and the pain in Hans as he was thrown back and frozen halfway.

She would have seen her sister run, would have been incapable of stopping her despite being the only true witness to the pain and fear that had appeared in her eyes.

And she would have seen Kristoff – ever present, ever sensitive Kristoff – with such a lonely and heartbroken expression on his face that she might have cried for him, if only the tears were not frozen too.

She would have seen the townspeople lead her to the palace – might even have wondered why she could not feel them (is it the ice?), as leaders slowly emerged to decide upon a course of action.

In the end, Rapunzel and Eugene – Royalty from a nearby land and recent guests to the coronation – were elected to take over the kingdom temporarily, while waiting for Anna to unfreeze or for Elsa to return.

Envoys were sent throughout the realms in order to find the rightful queen of Arendelle, and Kristoff was given a special mission – to find a way to unfreeze Anna. He just hoped that she was still alive, and that he woudn't be too late.


	5. Chapter 5

Time stood still for Elsa, as she lived in an eternal moment of winter and grief. Her travels bought her all around the world, but she always made sure to steer clear of Arendelle.

Sometimes, when the snow was howling all around, and she felt the need to be around people, she would approach town, and look through the window at the warmth of friends and family – a warmth she knew she would never feel again. The trolls had said so, long ago – if Anna's heart were to be frozen, they would not be able to do anything.

At such times, her grief would become more pronounced, and the people inside their homes would hear the storm grow stronger, and sometimes even more violent.

Unable to look away, and yet unable to stay, she would then once again leave, only to let the storm within go once she was far enough from the town.

On one such occasion, as she was looking into a home, at a happy family, celebrating Christmas (had so much time gone by? How long had it been since she had left Arendelle?), she heard a sound. She paid it no mind at first, but soon turned to investigate.

No-one was around.

She looked back into the window, and smiled at seeing the kids hug their parents in thanks for the toy sled they had gotten this year for Christmas. Togetherness, warmth and joy were evident in their eyes and manner. A small tear gathered at the corner of an eye. The wind started to get stronger – she would soon have to leave, the storm within her was looking for a way out…

"Heart warming, ey?"

She spun in surprise, and found a teenager – a boy aged fourteen or fifteen, bearing an air of sadness. He was wearing winter clothes, but they seemed well worn. He looked used to the snow – the cold did not seem to bother him – and yet he seemed to be looking at her curiously as though studying her.

She blinked and nodded. Her voice had not been used in a while, and she was still stunned by the realization she was not alone.

"You've come down a few times on snowy nights – It seems we have the same hobbies…" He gave a slight smirk as though amused.

"Which hobbies do you speak of?" Elsa decided to speak up.

"Watching people" he said, turning back to the window and leaning towards it – he was getting so close in fact that he was breathing slowly against the window. "The warmth they display in cold weather really has no match" he moved away.

She turned to the window, pensive. She found she could not argue with that sentiment, despite everything. She had missed the warmth of family for a long time now – the warmth of a sister ever since that fateful day when they had had to go see the trolls because of her, and the warmth of her parents ever since that fateful day they had decided to go to see. It might even have been before that, back when she had realized that her powers could hurt anybody around her, and had first stubbornly refused to be touched by her parents.

She turned back towards him, ready to continue the conversation, not realizing the snowstorm had calmed down during her reflection, only to notice he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Kristoff's travels took him around the world, in his quest for a way to save Anna.

Sometimes, at night when he was no longer keeping himself busy in order to avoid his thoughts, he would think there was no way to save her. At other times, after hearing a rumor of a witch, sorcerer or magician who might be able to help save her life, he would go to bed energized and hopeful.

Throughout it all, Sven kept an eye on him, and helped him.

The trolls had said they could do nothing, and that love was the answer.

A Scottish witch tried to turn him into a bear (he was lucky enough to be stopped by an auburn haired princess who happened to be passing by…).

The witch from Rapunzel's kingdom was truly dead and gone.

As each lead failed, he grew to slowly lose hope, and so, when he heard the tale of a teenager, an orphan, with powers of ice, who appeared and disappeared at random during the winter season, he did not originally think the boy would be able to help – after all, Elsa, who had been the one to freeze her sister's heart in the first place – had been unable to help.

And yet, the thought of this boy stayed with him.

How had the boy gotten his powers? Could he control them easily? Did he know how to thaw a frozen heart?

Soon he began to seek the boy in earnest. A boy named Jack Frost.


	7. Chapter 7

Sometimes, he wanted a different life, with responsibilities family and friends. At other times, he felt that his life of fun, pranks and games was truly great, and did not need to change. Either way, he felt unfulfilled and alone.

After all, what else could an orphan with "winter" powers do with his life?

Once upon a time, Jack Frost had been a lively and fun teenager, with parents, a sister and friends. Everything had changed, the day he had plunged into the ice to save his sister.

His family had mourned him, his friends had forgotten him, and he had seen this all, stuck as he was under the ice.

Back then, he had had a lot of time to think. Why was he still alive? Why had nobody noticed? Why didn't he want anybody to notice?

When he had finally been able to leave the ice prison he had become trapped in, all the people he had known had been gone for while, and he had found himself imbued with these unusual capacities.

This had not endeared him to those around him - appearing as a poor orphan boy arriving from who knows where and playing pranks on everybody might not have been the best way to approach them but it was the only way he knew how.

Jack missed his family and friends, and so he frequently observed others with their family and friends. On a few occasions, people had noticed from the frost on the windows that he had been looking in, and he had been awarded a few pitying glances - those, he could do without.

Watching others allowed him to feel more human, and warmed his heart when he started to feel cold and isolated.

On one such occasion, as the snow became stronger, coming from the mountains (the best time to people watch, in his opinion), a fair haired woman, dressed very lightly came down from the mountain. He saw her from a distance stand in front of a home and watch the people inside wistfully, and he saw himself in her. Over the next few snowstorms, he kept an eye out for her, and watched her as she came and went.

He finally decided to announce himself on christmas day, as she was watching his favourite family through their window.

"Heart warming, ey?"

She spun around and looked at him. He took this chance to study her too. She looked a little older than him, and had a noble air about her.

She blinked and nodded - he took this as a sign to continue.

"You've come down a few times on snowy nights - it seems we have the same hobbies..." he smirked at this phrasing - it made him sound like a stalker...

She raised her head - her eyes flashed in the moonlight - a brilliant blue he knew could be found in his own. The blue of winter shadows on the snow.

"Which hobbies do you speak of?"

"Watching people." He leaned down, against the window and looked in at the family. The kids sometimes played with him, and he was happy to see they had gotten the sleds they had asked for.

"The warmth they display in cold weather really has no match"

His breathing was starting to make small ice crystals appear at the window, so he quickly moved away.

She turned to the window and frowned. Afraid she had seen the frost that had appeared on the window, Jack decided to retreat for the day, and left, floating like a snowflake on the last wind of the snowstorm.


	8. Chapter 8

After the encounter with the teenager in town, Elsa had returned to her current ice palace, unsure if her powers had shown, and if the young teenager knew anything about her.

The prudent thing to do would be to leave, and as she had decided to keep away from people, sticking to the habits of a lifetime of keeping people out, she decided that she would move on to the next place without encountering the boy again. She would have to be more careful when going down to the villages from now on.

She took the few belongings she had, and left the ice castle, before moving to her next destination.

During her travels, she sometimes felt as if she were being watched – surely some type of paranoia – and on multiple occasions she had to hide and wait for the rare people trudging along in the snow to disappear before she continued on her path.

The whole time, she refused to use her powers – they could only be used when making an ice palace to live in – any other use reminded her of the pain she had inflicted.

Don't let them in, she thought to herself, don't let them see – nobody could know who or where she was, as she continued on her path.

As she was thinking these thoughts she did not notice the lone traveler and his reindeer moving the opposite way – if she had, she most assuredly would have run as fast as she could to avoid the situation that would occur – in fact, she might even have managed to walk past them without them noticing her, if the snowstorm had not suddenly and inexplicably abated.

"Your majesty!" She looked up in a panic, and noticed the man who had helped her sister back in the first ice palace she had created. The man who had been there when she had frozen Anna's heart and when Anna had finally turned to ice.

"You – What are you doing here?" She could not believe that he had found her – had she been followed? Had the young man she had seen in the mountains recognized her description and warned her homeland?

"I am looking for a cure for your sister – she may still be alive. Please your majesty, would you come with me and help me find the answer to our problem?" Kristoff looked in earnest, and Elsa nearly believed him, but it was too much. She could not allow herself to believe Anna could be cured. It would be too easy to let herself believe only to have her hopes crash and her feelings of guilt develop even more.

"Please, don't ask – If I could do anything I would have already", she stood, regal and impressive, hiding behind her façade she had perfected over the years. Inside, she was still the little girl, who locked herself in her room and cried while pushing her sister away. She could not let him know how their exchange was affecting her – how it was tearing her up inside.

The storm picked up again, and she did not get to hear Kristoffs response. Rather than deal with him, she created a snow-monster to keep him away.

As she walked away, she heard a vague cry from Kristoff."Wait, your majesty, have you ever heard of Jack frost?"… No, she couldn't say she had. She walked on as if she had not heard anything at all.


	9. Chapter 9

Kristoff found during his travels that very few people had heard of Jack Frost. This made the search difficult, especially as he had to be careful of explaining why he needed to speak to him.

He did find out from the few who had heard of him that Jack Frost had a very unusual character and was very mischievous. He liked to play with ice and snow, and spent most of his time in the mountains of the country Kristoff was currently travelling in. Some people even speculated that that was where his home was, but any village up there would be so remote that it would be almost impossible to travel to and from it.

After talking it over with Sven – in the way he knew best – it was decided they would go to those mountains, and try to find a trace of this character. He just hoped he would be able to persuade him to help.

When they first started the trek up the mountains, the weather was clear enough, and they had hoped it would last, but about halfway up the path, the snow became so strong that visibility became almost impossible. Still, Kristoff and Sven continued on their way.

At one point, Kristoff was just about to set up camp and wait for the snow to abate with Sven, when two things happened. The storm grew silent, and the snow queen appeared – deep in thought - before him.

She had not yet noticed him and he was thankful for that, as he knew without a doubt that she would disappear the moment she saw him… He had to take the intiative.

"Your majesty!" He attracted her attention in the only way he knew how. She suddenly looked up – she looked scared, frightened even, but her features quickly schooled into a poker face he knew she had sported most of her life (what else could they have talked about with Anna during their travels to the ice palace?)

"You – What are you doing here?" The question seemed innocent enough, and he decided to reply as quickly as possible in order to – hopefully – interest her in helping him.

"I am looking for a cure for your sister – she may still be alive. Please your majesty, would you come with me and help me find the answer to our problem?" Kristoff looked at Elsa in earnest, as she looked down for a second and shook her head. She stayed there head bowed for a couple seconds before responding.

"Please, don't ask – If I could do anything I would have already", she stood, regal before him, as if she did not care, and Kristoff could not believe this was the sister Anna had said so many great things about.

"She's your sister!" he said, surprised at her attitude, just as the storm picked up. He was not sure she had heard him, but could already see her making a snowcreature just like last time – when he had been with Anna.

As she walked away, he screamed so that she could hear."Wait, your majesty, have you ever heard of Jack frost?". She did not respond, and walked on.

The snowcreature was picking him up, to ensure he would not follow the snowqueen, when a young man descended from above – probably having jumped off a tree - and turned it back to snow in very little time thanks to a stick, of all things... Kristoff was extremely surprised but looked around quickly to see where she had gone.

Elsa, the snow queen was already much further down the mountain – she had not turned back once. Kristoff thought about following her on Sven's back, but the young man stood between them and her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you.", the young man with the white hair said, looking between him and Sven. "She seems upset enough, and anyhow, I heard you were looking for Jack Frost."

"How does that concern you?" Kristoff said, getting back to his feet.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Jack Frost, at your service!" He bowed as he produced a little flurry at the end of his staff.


	10. Chapter 10

Once the blond woman had walked off and out of town, Jack decided to follow her – he wanted to know where she was going under such a blizzard, and that she would be OK.

He followed her to a palace of ice, and whistled – what a grand place… Why had he never thought of doing such a thing? He then stayed outside, riding the wind, waiting for her to leave again (she couldn't stay in here forever, could she?).

Fortunately, he did not have to wait long, as she soon came out with a travelling cloak. Why had she not been wearing it before he wondered? And where were the servants and guards of the palace?

Before his curiosity and mischief got the best of him and he went to explore the palace, he decided he would continue to follow her for a bit – she was after all an unknown entity, who lived in an ice palace…

He stayed a while behind her, in case she heard or saw him, and observed her throughout their travels. For someone who liked looking in on "family life" and warm feelings, she did tend to avoid people a lot. She stayed to a path and never consulted a map, and the blizzard blew around her, sometimes more gentle, sometimes harsher, but in some ways a friend to them both.

When she was deep in thought, and moving a little slower, he decided to touch down for a bit. He thanked the wind, and started climbing trees not far from the path.

He had not seen the blond man and his reindeer approach the fair haired woman, but he heard the – rather high – exclamation from a male voice just seconds after starting his climb.

"Your majesty!" the voice had said – had he heard wrong? This lady was getting more interesting all the time! If only he could hear what they were talking about.

And so, he jumped off the tree and asked the wind to carry him again.

He flew over head to see the expressions of the two travelers. The man had a look of hope which was quickly dashed within seconds of his summoning of the wind.

As he was passing over their heads, and the blizzard started to rage once more, Jack saw her conjure an ice creature and leave - crystals of snow slowly sliding down her face now she had turned her back on man and moose. He also heard the final outcry of the man as she left.

He looked at her, and at them – the creature was starting to dangle the man. He decided he would go help him, and find her later. He was never good with crying girls anyway…

The meeting with the blond icebreaker (pardon the pun), left Jack intrigued. He had tried to learn a bit more about the blond woman throughout the conversation, and had only gathered that her name was Elsa, and that she was a queen who also controlled ice.

He had left the man, Kristoff, and his more intelligent counterpart on the mountain, after saying that he did not know if he could help, but that if he found a way, he would find them to let them know.

Of course, there was only one way at this stage to thaw the frozen heart of one of the sisters… And it was to thaw the heart of the other.

He had the wind bring him back to her, where she was sitting, in the woods by a lake, looking so lost and forlorn, he thought he could see himself…

How many times had Jack sat beside the lake he had drowned in wishing things had been different, wishing he had not wanted to go ice skating on that fateful day and that his sister and family were still alive and well. Better not leave her sitting there too long.

"Hello miss", he greeted as he strolled down the path between two trees meters away from her.

She looked up and assumed her poker face once again.

"How did you find me? Where did you go when we met earlier?" Her blue eyes shone with unshed tears, and yet her curiosity was strikingly visible within them. Eyes are the window to the soul he thought, and wondered if his own eyes were just as expressive.

"I err… well, I followed you actually" he sheepishly admitted, in his best innocent expression.

Her eyes grew wide in fear, thinking of her ice palace and the meeting with Kristoff no doubt… He hurried to stop her from thinking the worst "That palace is marvelous, I must express my deepest admiration to the sculptor. Would you like a miniature copy?" before she could wonder at that question, he extended his hand, and made a miniature ice palace rest on his palm.

"Who are you?" she said, still distrustful, but extremely curious.

"Pardon me your majesty, I am just an orphan called Jack who has it would seem, more than one hobby in common with someone of your abilities…" He saw her take a step back, and let out a horrified look at being called your majesty by a complete stranger – it would seem that she did not wish to be recognized.

"How do you…?" she said in one breath, as if afraid of the answer.

"I heard your conversation with that ice breaker person… He's a bit of a fixer upper, but once you get past the angry way he talks he seems OK…"

"What on earth are you on about?" she laughed – a tinkle of sound that seemed to fit in very well with the snowy atmosphere.

"Would you mind if I joined you in your travels", he asked, not expecting the almost immediate rebuttal.

"No." It was clear, and simple. Her eyes flashed as she said it, but he had to try, and so he insisted.

"I will either join you or follow you, it's your choice. I'd rather we got past this awkward stalker like relationship of ours."

"Then simply stop following me".

"I won't".

And that's how the snow fight began, in between her creatures, and his blasts of ice.


	11. Chapter 11

'How dare he insist on accompanying me on my journeys' Elsa thought as she readied her snow-creatures (she refused to call anything other than Olaf a snowman).

The young man was quick, she'd give him that, and the miniature palace he had created before her eyes was not a fluke. She would have to be careful – she did not want to hurt him and this was her first snow-fight with anyone other than Anna.

Her creatures were charging, but Jack kept easily evading them – as if he were floating on the air.

Wait, floating on the air?

He was flying, yes, just beyond the reach of her creatures, but how was he doing it?

"So, you don't want to be recognized as a queen and yet you act like one - will you not dispose of me yourself o great one? Do you need more snowmen to defeat me?"

'Snowmen' she thought. An image of Olaf appeared before her eyes. It was a happy memory of herself and Anna playing in the snow.

'Anna', her sister, who would never be able to build a snowman again.

She sat down once more, crystal tears in her eyes, not noticing as Jack disposed of the remaining creatures with ease. She sat down and thought of Anna.

"Fear not, sweet lady, for this brave knight has defeated the cold monsters of the abyss and won the right to accompany you on your journeys"

Elsa looked up at him, with a half amused half exasperated air.

"Is there no winning with you, good sir? I would rather have the company of a troll"

They both looked at each other so seriously at that moment that they could not help but burst out laughing. He held out a hand to help her up, and she took it.


	12. Chapter 12

For once since the beginning of his search, Kristoff was full of hope. Here, in front of him was the man he had been searching for, and a possible solution to Anna's problems. There could be no doubt due to the flurry the man had produced.

"Great, finally! My name is Kristoff, I sell ice for a living, and I was wondering if you could help us Mister Frost…", he said, almost tripping over his words in his haste to get to the problem at hand

"Jack will do." The young man seemed amused, but curious.

"Jack in that case… you see we have a problem with ice - more specifically ice powers. My friend Anna, she…"Jack, as he insisted to be called interrupted him almost immediately. He had an air of trepidation around him. It was not difficult, Kristoff thought, to see him as the teenager he really was. "Ice powers? Really? Were they from the lady going downhill?"

"That was Queen Elsa of Arendelle." 'There you go', Kristoff thought – 'though I won't tell him much else about her.'

"Oh, so they must have been – I heard the rumors, back when they were still circulating. Can you tell me more about her powers?" The young man was not to be so easily sidetracked, was he… "This does not concern Elsa. Anna's heart was frozen by ice powers, and she ended up freezing completely before anything could be done."

"Is Anna the deer? Because it looks warm enough…" Kristoff could feel Sven bristle at his side, but stopped him with a small hand gesture.

"No, she's a human."He stated, hoping to get a positive response from the young man ahead of him.

"Alright, alright, I'll look into it, see what I can do. What's the link between this girl, and her royal highness?" Finally, some semblance of a positive response, although Kristoff was weary of the fact Jack had said he would 'look into it'… Did that not mean he did not have a solution? He felt Sven nudge him slightly and realized Jack was still waiting for a response.

"They're sisters."

"Alright, I'll find you when I've found the answer."

And the young man disappeared the same way he had come, like a snowflake on the wind.

Sven nudged him again, and Kristoff turned around to give him a carrot.

"Well Sven, what do you think?" he said in his normal voice

"He seems trustworthy" he took the voice he attributed to Sven as Sven nodded along, still munching on his carrot.

"I just hope he finds our answer" he said again, before turning around, and going back down the trail.

He had a new destination in mind. It was time to pay another visit to his family, and tell them how the search was going.


	13. Chapter 13

Over the next few days, Jack and Elsa spent most of ther time trudging along in the snow, marching on their way to a never ending winter.

Sometimes, they would stop for food and water, at others they would stop for snowball fights, and – very rarely – they would stop to talk.

On one of these occasions, Jack had decided to have fun and tease Elsa about the young man who had left her so upset in the mountains. "So, what's with you and blondy?"

He had not expected her to stop walking so suddenly, but had been happy for the rest as he was no longer used to walking (riding the wind was so much faster!). The wind stopped blowing, and the snow stopped falling as she suddenly looked sad and far away.

"Who?" she said, in a manner that seemed to say that she had not realized who it was that Jack was thinking of.

"The icebreaker", he said, more hesitant. "The man you met in the mountains just before I joined you on your travels.

"I don't even know his name" she replied, and he could see that she was being honest.

Jack looked at her surprised. Had this young man not been trying to find a way to save her sister ? Did she not know the people around her, stuck as she was in her lonely snow castle?

"Let's rest here for tonight, your highness," he said, with a mischievous smile, riding the wind again just to be a little above her.

Jack enjoyed watching Elsa make castles – every time, it was as if she had just discovered the freedom of her powers, and was no longer thinking of the weight she carried with them – the weight of a life. He decided to watch her this time too.

She was more hesitant, unsure, and so he decided to speak to her that night, and tell her a tale of family, mischief and loss.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"You already know I'm an orphan Elsa, what are your parents like?" he asked as they rested that evening.

"They're dead" she said, and the castle iced up a little more. "They died 4 years ago". She looked devastated and torn – as if she thought she had failed them, and Jack decided it was time to tell his story.

"I'm sorry. Mine were kind, gentle, fun-loving people, you know. Back then I was just a mischievous little boy, but they always had to scold me for something" He couldn't help the nostalgia from slipping into his tone. "I also had a little sister – she looked up to me, I think. She was good, and kind, but we would always play together. I miss that."

His eyes misted over for a moment, as he thought back on his happiest moments, and he did not see Elsa's eyes mist over as well for a moment before she asked "What happened?".

"I was foolish. We lived in that village where I met you, and my sister and I went ice skating. The pond was usually solid enough, but my sister ended up standing on a thin area. She was going to fall through…" He grit his teeth before continuing "I pulled her out of the way thanks to a stick I found lying around, but ended up slipping in myself."

"Didn't you already have your powers back then?" He was no longer looking at her, but her tone was gentle and soothing. He hadn't revealed that he had started out normal until now, and it was a pretty huge admission.

"No, I didn't, but for some reason, I didn't die either. It's like I was stuck under the ice, floating, unmoving, but aware. My parents and sister couldn't take the grief, and left town to seek their fortune elsewhere, and I was finally able to leave the pond much later, when the ice melted." The blue of the ice around him, and the presence of someone he trusted and who knew what it was like helped him stay calm as he turned around to look at Elsa.

"Did you ever go look for them when spring came?" she seemed curious and hopeful.

"I never found them."


	14. Chapter 14

That night, after the story, Elsa decided to go on a walk to clear her head. In some ways, Jack's story was similar to hers, and yet in others it was so entirely different.

He had once been normal, but she was born a "snow princess".

He had lost his parents through a misunderstanding; she had lost hers through fear.

He had lost everything to save his sister, when she had lost her sister she had lost everything.

And yet, he hadn't changed. He had said he had been mischievous before the fall, but he remained mischievous to this day, with his constant battles for wits, or snowball fights and races. He never let his mood get him down, and he had not shut out people – well at least not as much as she had.

The moment she had realized her powers could hurt people, she had lived in fear of them, and as such she had let herself be controlled by them. When she had run away from Arendelle the first time she had thought it enough to protect the people around her and had freed herself of her shackles completely. She had been discovering a whole new world where she could test her limits without fear of hurting others and without fear of hatred or persecution. And that had ended in the fate she had most especially not wished upon her sister to happen.

The true difference, she felt, between herself and Jack, was the way the harshness of reality had hit them both. He had kept hope, while she had let hers turn sour.

She did not change completely that night, but in some ways, she had discovered new things about herself – things which could lead to a change in the future.


	15. Chapter 15

"Kristoff ?" - he heard them before he saw them, as he was not far from home, walking along with Sven.

His family were gathered and waiting for him – it had been months since their last meeting, that day they had tried to wed him to Anna. If only they had been smarter back then, if only they had tried to follow the trolls' suggestion of kissing, maybe none of this would have happened. Then again, who knew if she loved him back? He had thought so, for one wonderful moment, back on the frozen fjord, before that thought had been destroyed – Anna had run from him, to save her sister, and she had frozen over completely.

"Kristoff", the Elder said, gently. And from this, Kristoff understood that the trolls knew about everything that had happened over the last few months. "Welcome back. Is there anything we can do for you?"

"A solution… Do you have a way to save Anna?" He did not know if Jack frost would pull through, and he could not convince queen Elsa to come back – maybe, just maybe the trolls had found something, in the time he had been away - a scrap of hope that he could cling to until Anna was saved.

"Only the origin of the magic can undo it now that it has reached this point I'm afraid." … the origin of the magic? But… Jack Frost… Had the mischievous kid just been playing around with him? Kristoff no longer knew what to believe.

"Jack frost said he would try to help – do you mean to say that he can't do anything?" This was terrible – the last of his hope was disappearing… What could he do?

"He probably can – at the very least he will be able to understand how Elsa's powers work, but Elsa needs to come back to thaw Anna herself." Kristoff travelled back to Arendelle, intent on letting them know his discoveries.


	16. Chapter 16

Really, Hans felt like he'd been given the worst end of the stick.

After his failed attempt at killing the snow queen and becoming the new ruler of Arendelle, he had remained stuck in Arendelle for a time, as they slowly picked the ice off him so that he could move again.

Once that was finished, he had very nearly been sent to his doom at the hands of his brothers, but he had pleaded with the current rulers of Arendelle (a VERY optimistic princess, her 'former' crook husband, whom he had heard of in some very derogatory terms at some point or other, and a small cameleon who liked to stick its tongue in his ear – what was the kingdom coming to? At least a sorceress and a bumbling redhead were somewhat normal!), and obtained the right to stick around.

This clemency was due in part to the injuries sustained during the 'ice picking' contest some of the guards had had while he was being freed from his prison, but also to the fact that the brunette seemed to think that as long as he had a dream, he should be allowed to work towards it.

She was now working under the assumption that he dreamed of 'redemption'. In order to encourage the idea, he had visited Anna's ice statue a few times, and pretended some very remorseful speeches under the watchful eyes of a very annoying snowman.

But, now? 'Now' topped the cake. He had just been given a mission to travel accompanied by a blond ice-merchant with a penchant for ventriloquism and a reindeer called Sven to find the source of all his troubles, plead for her forgiveness and ask her to come back.

Yes, he had to bring back the snow-queen.

This was going to require a lot of cunning, a lot of pretending and – good lord – the ability to survive around these two idiots. Maybe he would have been better off if he had been sent back to his brothers for punishment...


	17. Chapter 17

Jack and Elsa continued on their journey, ensuring to stick to the cold weather at all times rather than create their own cold front.

Throughout their journey, Jack had noticed that Elsa would shrink less into herself when the subject of siblings came up and for that he was grateful. She needed to forgive herself, or her problems would continue forever.

He liked to think this progress had something to do with his own life story. Maybe she had accepted that accidents happen - maybe she had decided that he had it rougher than her in some way or another. He didn't care, either way.

One day, he decided to ask about her sister directly. They were in another of her ice palaces (How many could she make? Why wouldn't she let him be the one to make one?), sitting, and chatting, and she had had this wistful look in her eyes. The subject had been snowmen, and she had just been telling him about a small one called Olaf.

"Can you tell me about your sister?" he asked, during a lull in the conversation. The reaction was severe, and he could see it all around him.

The walls of the palace changed to a reddish hue, the room seemed darker all of a suddenn, and Elsa stiffened immediately.

"I ... Can't" she said, looking down "Anna... was my best friend and ..." crystal tears gathered at the corner of her eyes, and she nearly ran from the room. She would have if the ice hadn't been enclosing her due to her stressed feelings.

Jack decided to change the subject - he would try again later, but the wound was still too raw.

"You know... Nevermind. There's something unique about your creations." he stated to get her interested.

She kept her back to him, standing at the edge of the room, but he knew that she was listening.

"I could never animate snow, which is why your animated snowmen have always intrigued me. What intrigues me the most though is how they are so much like you. As if you had poured a part of your soul into them."

She turned around intrigued, finally calm enough to show herself and curious about his opinion on her magic. After all, he had been using it freely longer than she had.

"Go on," she said, getting comfortable in her corner of the room.

"For instance, the guards you created the other day for our snowball fight. They were playful, and free - you could feel it in the way they attacked and helped each other out. Sort of like the mood you were in that day. When you told me about Marshmallow, the guard you had set at the Entrance of your first palace, you mentioned he only wanted to be left alone and get rid of unwanted visitors - sort of like you back then right?" Jack could see Elsa look up, as if only just noticing the pattern he was talking about. He went on, keeping her mind off the subject of her sister."And olaf, the very first animated snowman you created, was he not an animated memory of your childhood?"

"Is" She said. "Olaf is still alive and well in Arendelle - and I'm not sure if I agree with you that he represents my childhood memories."

"Let's see," he sad, ready to tick off the reasons he believed so on his fingers, "1. He was a clone of the one you created as a child back before you became afraid of your powers. 2. He represented your bond with your sister. 3. I'm quite sure the reason he likes warm hugs is because you liked them at the time and 4. the other examples speak for themselves."

He smirked, waiting for the ice queens response to his comments. He did not expect her to chuckle.

"Alright, so maybe a little bit of me goes into my creations. I don't see that it's a problem," she admitted.

'It is when your ice palaces start trying to turn on us' he thought, but the walls had already dimmed back down to their natural pale blue colour.


	18. Chapter 18

Over the next few days, Elsa kept in mind what Jack had said about her powers. He was right, they were linked to her emotions in a strong way, which is probably why hiding her emotions never truly worked to stop them.

As a child, she had had rules to stick to, and these rules had helped calm her as long as it was easy to follow them. But the harder it became, the less able she was to keep to the rules and stop her emotions, and the more her ice and snow got away.

Now that she was free, her powers became easy to control as long as her emotions were positive – as long as she was having fun, and using them, and as long as there was no stress around her at anytime, she finally understood how she could truly control them.

She had to experience with her heart, but expect and control with her mind. She had to lose the shackles of her previous mantra. She had to feel, both the good and the bad, and decide with her mind how to let it show.

One day, as they were walking to their next destination (which was just a bit too close to Arendelle for comfort, she thought, but Elsa could not afford to be too picky), she decided to work on keeping in control during any sort of situation.

She figured that if she were ever to be attacked, she needed to avoid killing everyone around, but still be able to defend herself. As she started thinking of a solution, she heard a sound.

Jack and Elsa turned towards the sound and heard some of the first sounds of winter – children playing in the snow.

"Hey, big sis, do you wanna build a snowman?" a young girl about 5 years old was asking, and for a second Elsa was transported to the past. She could imagine that it was Anna's voice asking, and that the last 15 years hadn't happened.

The kids continued to play together, unaware of the two people just around the bend, watching them.

Elsa woke up to the sounds around her, and looked around. Jack was looking at her with a curious expression.

The snow was light around them, and they decided to move on quietly without bothering the kids.

They skirted the village, and moved on into the forest not far in order to avoid people. There they came across a scary sight.

A young girl and boy, probably about ten years old were playing on the ice on a stream in the forest – unaware that the ice had started to crack around them.

"I'll distract them, could you reinforce the ice?" Jack said, and she could see the panic in his eyes. She couldn't blame him – they were facing the very situation that had separated him from his family.

"Yes", she said, slowly creeping around the next tree in order to use her powers on the iced water.

Jack flew in on the wind, in his best impression of a guardian angel (who is he kidding, Elsa thought), and told the kids to run, because a demon was coming. When they would not budge, he threw a snowball at them, keeping them distracted while Elsa went about her work.

It was harder than she thought, to make her powers bypass the surface of the ice and slowly freeze the underneath, but she had to do this – those children weren't safe.

And so she forced more ice out of herself, before making a snow "devil" to scare the kids away.

She stayed by the tree, resting, until Jack joined her.

"Thank you", he said, sitting down by her side, and they both smiled.


	19. Chapter 19

Kristoff couldn't believe his bad luck. He had gone back to the castle to inform the current rulers of the situation concerning Elsa, Anna and Jack Frost.

He had not expected them to send both him and Hans to get Elsa – a task he had assured them that might provide troublesome enough WITHOUT sending the guy who had tried to kill her and possibly even her sister before she had run away.

Actually, come to think of it, Kristoff did not know what had happened in between Anna and Hans . . .

They were currently camping on their way to the country where Kristoff had last seen the Snow Queen, hoping to meet her on their way there. Now was as good a time as any to speak with Prince Hans "of the southern Isles". That reminded him.

"What is your surname?" he asked, remembering Anna's immediate response with a fond smile.

"Anderson." The reply was brief and informal. Kristoff knew that Hans thought him beneath him, but figured they didn't like each other anyway so…

Although it was amusing that Anna hadn't even known Hans' surname.

"What happened with Anna?" Kristoff asked in his gruff manner, moving on to the main subject he wished to ask about. "The last I saw her she was being safely led inside the castle so that you could save her, and the next thing I knew, she was running over the fjord to save her sister, and ended up encased in a block of ice."

For a moment Hans appeared taken aback, and then lost in thought, before finally responding.

"It didn't work." Kristoff couldn't believe it. He had taken Anna at full speed on Sven's back straight to the castle so that this man could kiss her, and it was all for nothing. It was not true love. Hans continued to spin his tale.

"I figured that the only way to save her – to save our wedding as well as Arendelle was to kill the queen. That's why I went after Elsa".

Kristoff knew that he wouldn't have done that – he had seen how important Elsa was to Anna on more than one occasion, but desperation and fear could have driven him to it if he didn't know any better. But he also remembered the manic look in Hans's eyes as Elsa had run away after Anna's attempt to save her.

True love was the only way to thaw a frozen heart, and if Elsa's heart was as frozen as her sister's was, they were in deep trouble.


	20. Chapter 20

Hans was having a bad day - no, not a bad day, the worst day. He had never hated ice so much as he did now. Travelling with an ice harvester in the frozen wilds of Arendelle was taking its toll on him.

The harvester and reindeer were glaring at him at every opportunity and tended to only converse with him to ask him questions, maybe even interrogate him. He would probably have been better off alone, but for now, he would have to bear with it…

Hans kept up the façade, of remorse, of pain, and trudged on, hoping to find a way out of his current predicament or at the very least a way to benefit from it.

Revealing his plans to Anna before she was frozen and the queen was dead had been an oversight – had she survived, Hans himself would have not escaped his fate of being sent back to his brothers as a common criminal. He just hoped that she could not be unfrozen now, or all his planning, all his acting and his thinking will have amounted to nothing.

But he still needed to find the queen in order to obtain a full pardon, in order to get away from Arendelle and try again somewhere else.

And so he trudged on. Ignoring man and animal, determined to accomplish their mission as soon as possible.


	21. Chapter 21

Over the next few days of travel, Jack observed Elsa.

She was jumpy, in a different way, as if she was trying to scare herself – a fact that was highlighted even more by the constant attacks of the little “devil-snowman” she had dubbed imp.

Maybe she was trying to get over her fear of her powers – or maybe she simply liked being scared out of her wits by a snow creature– either way, he knew that if things got out of hand he would have to destroy the little imp with his staff.

They reached another peak in the mountains, far enough from most habitations for them to be able to create a palace easily – in some ways, Jack was glad, because living in caverns and making bear sounds when people approached was not his idea of fun (well not anymore at least, after having done so quite a lot over the last few days of travel . . .), but he also feared that Elsa’s mindset would instead entrap them in a “palace of doom”.

Yes, he had a name for this specific “mood” of the palace, when the wall seem to be closing in, and the beauty and light are lost to the fear in Elsa’s heart. 

“I would like to suggest that I make the palace this time, your majesty…” he started, making a respectful bow, and masking a chuckle. He wanted her to see that he was being playful, and not think about the reasons behind his suggestion.

“I don’t think that will be necessary, kind sir,” she laughed, taking his supposed joke at face value.

“Ah, but I must insist, fair lady, as if I do not, I shall miss out on some valuable experience”, he looked up at her, smiled, and jumped onto the wind, “Please give me a chance to try?”.

And as he looked down at her, he knew that he had won – she was laughing, and seemed content to let him fly without stopping him.

“Alright, but you’ll have to teach me how to fly”, she said instead.

“Alright, fair lady”, he gave another, airborne, bow, before lowering his staff towards one patch of ground.

A structure rose out of the ground, crystal clear and magnificent. Each individual wall of the structure appeared translucent, and yet glittered with a thin layer of white frost, the signature of his magic.

On the outside of the structure, and moving from the only balcony of what now looked like a tower, a slide could be seen going around the palace and all the way down to the ground.

On the inside, a staircase and a pole had been made, so that one could slide down both from the inside and the outside, and yet get back up in the normal way.  
He landed, his “towerhouse” ready, and gave a final bow – 

“After you, my lady”, and the palace crumbled.


	22. Chapter 22

Elsa did not quite understand what had happened. For once, she had allowed Jack to make their living area, only to find that he could not.

There were several failed shapes over the next few minutes, each one crumbling faster than the last. The funniest had probably been the latest which looked like an oversized igloo with a very long base, but each and every one of them was in the shape of a tower of some sort, and had the same “slide” in or around it.

“Are my palaces not fun enough for you” she said, a twinkle in her eye as she looked at the teenager, as he was starting to try again.  
Jack stopped his motion halfway, turned around and looked at her.

“I am sorry, your majesty, it would seem that my structures are lacking something fundamental”

‘Like the ability to stay standing,’ she thought, an amused smile playing across her lips.

“Allow me” she looked him in the eye as she raised her hand, and a tower suddenly appeared beneath him, and continued to grow until he was quite high.

With a flick of her wrist, a slide slowly appeared around the tower and twisted its way down, and Jack rode it down to be face to face with her again.

“Awww, why did you do that? I wanted to do it!” Jack whined, and Elsa laughed.

“If I’d let you do it, we’d still be here waiting a week from now. See this as experience too – you can study the tower I’ve made and find out what’s missing…” And she entered the tower.

Over the next couple of hours, she looked out the balcony on a couple of occasions, and saw him try to create even more towers – maybe it was a good thing he wasn’t trying to create a palace after all. 

She threw a snowball at the little imp she had created, before he could throw one at her, and put him in his “ice room”, so that she could sleep peacefully.

She went to sleep with a smile on her face, remembering the amusing events of that day.


End file.
